Chapter Forty-Nine

The streets were full of smoke, random debris that swirled in the wind, corpses torn apart and left scattered, destroyed Precursor drones, and rubble that had spilled from where buildings had collapsed. The entire city was full of the sounds explosions, the high pitched thrumming and screaming of energy weapons, the roar of rockets and missiles, and the wailing of the frightened, trapped in buildings or huddling in the rubble, that had grown so loud that it even could be heard over the combat between the Terran military and the Precursor machines.

The little Telkan ran on short little legs, her fur filthy and matted, her huge eyes wide and watering with tears, her tunic torn and filthy, a ragged tattered doll held tight to her body even though it was missing an arm. She was crying as she ran, terror pushing her exhausted body further down the street, her broodmother's words echoing through her mind.

Run, podling, don't look back! the warm, soft, good smelling, and loving broodmother had yelled to the little Telkan as the machines that bit and stung crashed through the window and into the little store they had been hiding inside.

So she ran. Past the bodies, her little brain editing them out, running past the fires burning in the street, past the holes in the ground, climbing over the rubble and sobbing as she did as she'd been told.

run!

She wanted her mother, her father, the broodmothers, the other podlings, but all she had was Mister Kikik, her stuffy, and the broodmother had told her, screaming it as the pinchy machines...

Run!

Her soft feet were bleeding from cuts where rubble has sliced into her delicate walking pads, but still, she kept going, crying, scrambling, holding tight to Mister Kikik as she ran. She scraped her knee and got up, running. She cut her hand scrambling up rubble and kept running. Fire burst up from a hole in the ground, scorching her fur, but she didn't stop.

RUN!

She came to a stop, screaming, when a huge metal snake, as wide as the street, crashed through the building, little pieces of rubble bouncing around her as she ducked and covered her head with one arm, screaming. The snake was twisting in the street and she saw it had hundreds, thousands of legs. It held something in its mouth, in the big pinchers, something that was struggling. She screamed, knowing it was going to hurt it, knowing the many legged snake was bad. She turned to run and saw them.

Pinchies.

She looked around wildly, looking for a way out. There was only walls on either side, pinchies running at her on their spider legs, and the huge snake thrashing around.

"KILL YOU! SKIN YOU! EAT YOU!" a voice roared through the translator necklace she wore.

She screamed, crouching down, holding Mister Kikik tight, covering her head with one arm. She was sure it was the pinchies yelling it.

The snake crashed down behind her and she screamed again, staring at the pinchy's running at her.

"YOU! AREN'T! NOTHING" she heard roar out from behind her, her necklace translating it. "EAT THIS!" There was an explosion behind her.

The pinchies were halfway at her and she turned to look behind her.

A big metal man was standing up, breaking the pinchers holding onto him. Bigger than daddy, but with two arms and two legs and a head with two eyes just like her and daddy. No trendrils or weird faces, just a flat face. He didn't have soft fur, not like mommy or broodmommy, or daddy, he was made of black metal and his eyes were bright glowy green.

"CHRIST, KID, LOOK OUT!" the metal man yelled, raising an arm.

She screamed, turned around, and ducked, covering her head, curling over Mister Kikik, holding him tight with her sore arm.

There was a thrumming noise, a loud noise, like when the food heaty (that she wasn't allowed to play with) was on, and she felt heat on her head that made her fur crinkle and made her get all wet and gross with sweat.

She saw the pinchies get touched by blue flickering light with a white core, the flickering light making them pop with bright flashes. She heard thudding footsteps and the big metal man moved in front of her, his hand cocked back strangely and the blue light coming from a tube sticking out of his palm.

She wondered if it hurt his handpad. She looked away, the light hurting her sensitive eyes.

The light stopped and she opened her eyes and looked up.

The big metal man was looking down at her and she saw that the metal man had tears in his metal skin like she had in her tunic. Silver fluid, like the red blood that filled her scrapes and ran into the fur on her arms and legs, filled up the tears in his metal skin. A big knife was sticking out of his arm and as she watched it slid back inside with a snap.

"You OK, kid?" The big metal man asked.

She nodded, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

"Where's your parents?" The metal man asked.

"The pinchies got my broodmommy," the little girl said, starting to sniffle again. "She yelled for me to run so I ran as far and as fast as I could," she sobbed. "The pinchies chased me."

"You're OK, kid. Let's find somewhere safe for you," the metal man said. He looked up. "This is Char-3381, does anyone read me? This is Char-3381, does anyone read me?"

"Who are you talking to?" she asked. "Is Char your name? Or is the numbers? That's a funny name."

The metal man looked down. "You can hear that?"

"Yes," The little girl said, hugging Mister Kikik close.

The metal man turned around and knelt down. "Can you see the back of my head?"

The little girl stood on her tiptoes. "Yes. You have a pinchy stuck in it."

The big metal man tried to reach back to his head but wasn't quite able to reach it. He gave a sigh.

"Honey, I need you to climb up on my back, OK?" he said. He sat down.

"OK," the little girl said. Her sniffles were stopping. She climbed up, standing on his legs, then pulling herself up. She whined a little when her arm hurt. "Now what?"

"Can you pull the piece of metal out of my head?" he asked.

She wrapped her paw around it, tried to squeeze and stopped. "It's sharp. You're really hot, do metal men get sickies?"

"No, we don't. All right," he sighed. He looked around. "I'm not even sure where I am. My GPS is out."

"Oh," she said. She climbed down and sat on a big rock in the street. "I'm lost too."

"Lost my rifle too. Autocannon's empty. Out of mass, overheating and slushed out. Battle-screen's down," the big metal man stood up. "And half my onboards are out."

He turned around and looked down at her. "Why aren't you in a shelter?"

She shrugged. "Momma tried, the people at the shelter told us that we belonged in the street and called my momma a bad name," she started sobbing. "We walked a ways and were in the crowd, hoping to get into a different one and there were really loud bangs from trucks with the people mommy always said to do what they say. People started screaming. Broodmommy grabbed me and we ran."

She held tight to Mister Kikik. "There was a loud noise and everyone, even mommy and daddy and the other broodmommies and the other podlings, all popped like balloons when the light touched them. There was light coming from some big trucks."

"Digital H. Christ, kid," The big metal man said. "I'm sorry."

The little girl sobbed and hugged Mister Kikik harder. "Broodmommy hid us in a store, even though she did a bad thing and broke a window with a rock. We've been in there during all the noise. Even when the big light came."

The big metal man knelt down. "You've been in that shop for five days? Have you even eaten?"

The little girl nodded. "Broodmommy fed me. She ran out of milk yesterday though. I'm hungry and thirsty."

The little girl looked up, tears coming from her large expressive eyes. "I want my broodmommy."

"It's OK, kid," the big metal man said. "I've got you. What's your name?"

"Podling," She said. "We don't have names yet."

"Can you eat regular food or only broodmommy milk?" The big metal man asked, standing up and looking around.

"I can eat big people food. I'm almost old enough to have a name," The little podling said, looking up.

"There, we can get you something to eat there," The big metal man said, pointing at a shop.

The little girl looked at the front of the shop and shook her head. "There's no podling sign. That's for the Masters."

"Not today, kid, you're with me," The big metal man said. He took a couple steps and stopped. "Oops, that's not good."

"What?" The little girl looked around.

The metal man moved over to a big car, the important kind that mommy said to always look out for, grabbed a door, and ripped it open with a scream of metal.

"Get in, kid, and hurry," The metal man said. "Sit in the back and in the middle of the seat. Don't look."

The podling nodded, hurrying up. She sat on the seat and buckled the seat harness.

"Don't look. Look down. Don't look, sweetie," The big metal man said, then closed the door.

She could hear the wailing coming. The wailers screamed, and ran down the street, some breaking windows, some hitting people, others throwing rocks. She didn't know why they wailed, they just did. She saw them ripping each others clothing sometimes, still wailing. Even masters were part of the wailers. They were all blackened, with owies all over, their hair falling out and icky sores on their faces.

The wailing got louder and she covered her ears, bending over and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Get off me! Don't touch me! Get your slimy hands off me!" The metal man roared.

Glass broke, making her open her eyes, and some landed at her feet. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut. She heard metal crunch, heard screaming, and terrible noises. The wailing got so loud it hurt her ears, and still the metal man yelled at them to stop touching him, get off of him, keep their hands to themselves. There was banging on the metal, more glass broke, and it felt like someone was jumping on the car.

Then the wailing slowly faded away.

It was quiet for a second and the door opened. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Don't look, honey. I'll have to pull the roof off a little bit, but don't look, okay?" the metal man said.

"I won't. Promise," she said.

"OK. Be good," he said. She heard metal scream and could smell the air.

It smelled like blood.

She felt the harness unclick and the metal man lifted her up. His hands and arm were really hot.

"Are you sickie?" She asked.

"No sweetie, I'm just overheated," The metal man said. "Keep your eyes closed, hold onto your doll."

"He's Mister Kikik," the podling said.

"Hold onto Mister Kikik," The metal man said. He started walking, then running. It felt like she was flying, being held by the metal man, as he ran through the streets. He suddenly stopped and there was the noise of glass breaking and metal tearing.

She was carefully set in a chair. "OK, sweetie, you can open your eyes."

She looked around. It was a food shop, where masters and important people that you did what they said right away would eat. The big metal man had moved over to a food dispenser and had ripped open the front of it.

"It's nutripaste," he said, letting it pour from the broken machine and into a big bowl.

"You're gonna be in trouble," She said. "I don't want you to be in trouble."

"I'm already in trouble," The metal man said.

"OK," the little podling said, and started slurping down the nutripaste. It didn't taste like anything but it made her tummy feel better. The metal man moved over under where water was falling from a pipe, standing in the water. Pieces popped up with a hiss and she saw steam start to come off of him. She chewed a little on the bowl to ease the ache in her gums, watching. After a bit the pieces closed again and the big metal man came over to her.

"We need to move, kid," The metal man said. "The Precursors are all over the place. We need to get out of city. I'm hurt inside, I can't use my slush, can't run a diagnostic."

"Will a hug help?" She asked. Broodmommy would hug her when she was scared. The metal man didn't have a broodmommy with him.

"It won't hurt, kid," The metal man said. She grabbed his thick leg and hugged it, feeling how warm it was and liking how it vibrated. She let go and looked up.

"Will you carry me?" She asked.

The metal man nodded, picking up her and Mister Kikik. She went out in the street and started running. She felt like she was flying again as they ran. He kept dodging around the stuff that loomed out of the smoke, jumping over some of it.

The podling suddenly felt embarrased.

"Metal man?" She said.

"Yes, sweetie?" The metal man said.

"I pooped myself. I'm sorry," she said. She rubbed her fur and some came off. Her skin was red looking and hurt. "My fur's coming off."

"You'll be all right. It's rad-sick, I'll get you to the medics and they'll patch you up," The metal man said. Somehow he ran faster.

He started stumbling, staggering, and the podling looked up at him. His green eyes, glowing in the dark, were fixed ahead.

"Are you all right, Mister Metal Man?" The podling asked.

"The goo around my thinky stuff is running out. I'm leaking, kid," the metal man said. "Medics. Get you to the medics," he said, his voice barely audible over the sounds of the war torn city.

They kept moving, the metal man lurching side to side, getting warmer and warmer. The metal man suddenly stopped, pushing the podling under a car.

"No come out. No look," he said. He stood up and she heard it.

A monster.

"Here! Here! Right here!" he yelled.

There was a crash.

"THREE THREE TWO INFANTRY!" the metal man roared.

There was the bright light, blue, and more light, some of it red, some green.

"KILL YOU!"

A giant hand hit the street next to the burn out car and the podling closed her eyes, holding tight to Mister Kikik.

"SKIN YOU!"

There was another crash. A loud shriek and a clap of thunder that hurt the podling's ears.

"EAT YOU!" the metal man bellowed.

There was a heavy crash, then silence.

The car suddenly flipped off of her and the podling screamed, looking up.

The metal man stood there. His head was smushed, one eye popped out and dangling from wires. His body looked smashed, wires poking out and goop leaking out.

"Podling," The metal man rumbled.

The podling held her arms up, Mister Kikik in her hand.

The metal man reached down, picking up the podling. The podling noticed that the big knife was broken, part of it bent away from the metal man's hand.

"Medics," The metal man said, his voice squeaking at the end.

He cradled her close and started running.

She looked behind her. It was another metal man, all brown metal, covered in holes, its head twisted off and a burning hold in its back. One foot was kicking but it didn't move.

It was really big.

"Podling," The metal man said as they ran through the smoke.

"Yes, Mister Metal Man," the little girl asked.

"Sick. Medic. Run," He said.

"Yes, Mister Metal Man, broodmommy said run," she said. She hugged the metal man's arm, feeling how hot it was. His chest was warm too, like broodmommy's.

"Run," Mister Metal Man said.

They kept running, through the streets, around the burning cars.

"Sick. Medic."

The podling hugged the metal man. Goo had oozed out of him. Some red, some pink, some silver, some blue.

"Podling. Sick. Medic." he kept repeating as he ran.

She hugged his arm tight. Once she threw up on him. Still she hugged him, willing him to be OK, willing the hug to make him all better.

The metal man stopped, looking up with his one green eye. He put his hand up and fired that bright blue light. Once. Twice. Three times.

The howl of a vehicle sounded, the vehicle coming closer. The metal man shot once, twice, three times again, straight up in the air.

The vehicle landed. More metal men jumped out. They had flashing red lights on their shoulders.

"Poooooodliiiiing," metal man said, the word drawing out and like a moan.

The vibration stopped. She looked up. His eyes were dark.

The new metal men ran up, red shapes on their chests. They had to pull Mister Metal Man's arm away, and they took her to the flying vehicle. She cried, reaching out for the metal man, as the vehicle went up in the air. She cried out for him, as they stuck a needle on a tube in her arm. She struggled, holding onto Mister Kikik as they put a mask on her face, reaching out for the metal man as the vehicle rose into the air.

He stood in the middle of an intersection, unmoving.

The smoke swirled around him, and he was gone.

---------------------

She came there often, after she was named, after she grew up. She had looked it up, where Lance Corporal Char-3381 of the Terran Confederate Marine Corps had finally died.

She would stand on the corner, staring at the middle of the street as the ground-cars went by.

She never forgot him. Even when her patchy fur turned gray. Even when her whiskers drooped. Even when her own podling's podlings had to help her go there.

And she took Mister Kikik with her each time.

------------------

TERRAN CONFEDERATE MARINE CORPS

Lance Corporal Char-3381 is post-posthumously awarded the Marine Silver Star, for actions above and beyond the call of duty. Charr-3381, severely wounded, carried an orphaned Telkan podling suffering from radiation poisoning, beyond the city of Shur'rima'an, signaling a passing medical evacuation unit to the podling's distress. During his travels he engaged two super-heavy Precursor infantry units, upholding his duty, defeating them single-handedly in defense of the podling.

Despite a cracked brain case, despite being out of neural fluid, he kept moving, and by his valor and actions, the Telkan podling was evacuated from the city.

Lance Corporal Char-3381 was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was recovered and his tissue remains were buried with all Marine Corps honors on Terra.

------------NOTHING FOLLOWS----------